Histogram of class corpus’s tempo

Tempograms


Track 1

- Fourier-based tempogram:

- Cyclic tempogram: A simplified visualization by wrapping higher harmonics back into the fundamental range

Track 2

- Fourier-based tempogram:

- Cyclic tempogram:

-> Based solely on the tempogram analysis of these tracks, Vietnamese advertising background music appears characterized by clear, stable fundamental tempo structures, often accompanied by identifiable harmonic patterns. The rhythmic consistency observed suggests suitability for creating comfortable listening experiences while viewing nature and culture presented in video, essential in promotional contexts. While there are still visible changes presented in tempograms at certain time-points, these are not such huge changes and these changes seem to be mainly due to the changes in instrumentation when carefully listening to the tracks

(I still don’t know how to change the code in order to make all graphs have the same size, if you know, please help meeee! thank you in advance!)

Music in Advertising Videos and The Study about Vietnamese music

A study by two researchers from Hungary, Monica Coronel and Anna Irimiás, confirms that music plays an essential supporting role in “destination promotional videos” and “tourism marketing,” stimulating both cognitive and affective responses. Specifically, their research reveals that background music can capture attention, reflect a destination’s characteristics, target specific audiences, highlight cultural identity, elicit emotions, and create ambience.

These findings about the importance of music in tourism marketing led me to explore Vietnamese advertising music and compare it with global music trends. In particular, my research question focuses on:

“How does the musical style of Vietnamese advertising music compare to other music? Does it have distinct characteristics, or does it align with broader global trends?”

To represent Vietnamese advertising music, I selected two tracks suitable for advertising videos showcasing Vietnamese culture and nature. After experimenting with generative AI tools, I opted for royalty-free tracks from Pixabay and SoundCloud. I used keywords such as “Vietnam,” “folk instruments,” “adventurous music,” and “travel” on both platforms, and filtered for “bright” mood and “cinematic music” theme on Pixabay. I chose these tracks because they feature Vietnamese folk instruments—a key focus—and include a strong bass that enhances engagement and evokes emotions in listeners, aligning well with the commercial and storytelling purposes of advertising videos.

What are the overall characteristics of these two Vietnamese background music tracks in terms of Essentia features


This interactive boxplot presents the distribution of various Essentia features extracted from the class corpus. The black points represent all tracks in the dataset, while my tracks are highlighted in pink for better visibility.

My tracks are scattered across different features, showing varying degrees of similarity and uniqueness compared to the “average” track in the corpus:

Key Takeaways

Based on the distribution of my tracks compared to the class corpus, the key insights are:

This visualization provides a clear comparison of how my tracks align with the broader dataset and which features distinguish them. It confirms that Essentia effectively identifies track characteristics and highlights both similarities and unique elements of my track.

Chromagram


The first chromagram reveals a dynamically structured piece that doesn’t settle on a single tonal center but rather employs a wide array of pitch classes throughout its duration

Chroma-based and Timbre-based Self-similarity Matrices


Chroma-based Self-Similarity Matrix

The block-like structures and distinct lines are more apparent, indicating sections of the track where harmonic repetition homogeneity occurs:

Timbre-based Self-Similarity Matrix

The block-like structures are less clear. Instead, the streaks are more blurred and evenly distributed, suggesting that there is variability in timbre throughout the track

Chordograms


These chordograms visualize the harmonic structure of Track 1 and 2, displaying the evolution of chords over time. The Y-axis represents different chords used in the track, including major (maj), minor (min), dominant 7th (7), and diminished chords, while the X-axis represents time in seconds. The color intensity indicates the activation strength or presence probability of each chord at any given moment, with bright yellow signifying strong chord presence and dark purple indicating weaker or less frequent occurrences

Track 1

Track 2

Keygrams


These keygrams exhibit a more ambiguous structure, with a diverse and less clearly defined focus on specific musical keys throughout the track.

(I plan to analyze this further in the future, as I find some aspects of it quite confusing at the moment :) )